TRAVEL I couldn't help it. In the course of scouting out great adventures for West Coast 101 — our new guide to essential destinations in Baja, California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia — I found myself compiling a personal top 10. Of our 101 best West Coast experiences, these 10 resonate most for me.
I'd recommend them to just about any California newbie, and I'd grab at a chance to visit them again — some for basic beauty, others for the stories they tell or the memories they tie together. 10 Rady Shell, San Diego I have a hard time imagining a more pleasant place to see an outdoor concert. Well, maybe the Red Rocks Amphitheater outside Denver.
But on the West Coast? I'll take this sleek bayside shell in downtown San Diego. And I'll try not to be resentful that nobody thought of this while I lived down there. 9 Deetjen's Big Sur Inn, California Deetjen's is basically a roadside time capsule clad in weathered wood.
It won over generations of road-trippers with its rustic rooms and restaurant. Before Helmuth Deetjen died in 1972, he set up a nonprofit organization to keep the place running in old-school fashion. I've been stopping there since the 1980s.
You have to call to make a reservation. And when you get there, you have to expect paper-thin walls along with the Norwegian woodwork, the crackle of the fireplace and the portrait of Deetjen on the wall. It's a priceless place.
8 Yosemite Valley, California Does this need explaining? Probably not. If you're ar.